McChrystal and Hillary

By Michael Crowley | @CrowleyTIME | June 22, 2010 | +

A striking footnote to the McChrystal-Rolling Stone fiasco is the fact that the one top Obama administration official for whom McChrystal’s team has praise is… Hillary Clinton. Not that this is so shocking; as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Clinton steeped herself in defense issues and rubbed elbows with the military brass, in part to build up her commander in chief bona fides as she prepared to run for president in 2008. Still, it remains remarkable to me that a woman who in the 1990s was routinely accused of being a radical leftist has emerged as a real national security wonk and shattered durable gender stereotypes along the way. I agree with Peter Beinart that conservative talk of Hillary challenging Obama in 2012 is simply nuts–almost too crazy to be worth knocking down at article length. But should Clinton try to run again in 2016 you can bet she’ll have an impressive lineup of generals supporting her.

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http://elvisberg.wordpress.com Elvis Elvisberg

And there’s a pretty intriguing race shaping up between Jenna Bush and Chelsea Clinton in 2024, too. Will Clinton be able to appeal to Southern whites like her father did, though? I think you have to give the early edge to Jenna.
geo1671

If KilRoy Clinton gets to be President—Americans must be nuts
nathan7777

…you can bet she’ll have an impressive lineup of generals supportng her.
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I didn’t know we were living under a military dictatorship. Thanks for clearing that up…
stuartzechman

Michael Crowley:
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…you can bet she’ll have an impressive lineup of generals supportng her.
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Great.
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What this country really needs during our “war on terror” is a full-fledged junta, not just a pattern of collusion between the state and big industry and international finance.
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Just think of all the benefits!
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I guess we’ll have something to talk about with the Myanmar delegation at the UN, after all.
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Is it possible for you to be less self-aware, Michael Crowley?
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Are you so shielded from the rest of us that you honestly have no idea what you sound like?
sevenoaks07

This stuff on Clinton: why do you push this, MC? Are you working on yet another campaign meme? Substance, man, s-u-b-s-t-a-n-c-e!!!
catherine1000

I REMEMBER WHEN THE IMPEACHED STAIN WOULDN’T GIVE BULLETS TO THE TROOPS

I SERVED UNDER JIMMAH CARTER (CRAZY TERRORIST LOVER) AND THEN RONALD REAGAN…….WE HAD NO TOOLS OR ANYTHING TO DO OUR JOBS UNDER CARTER, REAGAN GAVE US THE TOOLS TO DO OUR JOBS………..

KLEIN YOU NEVER TALK ABOUT LBJ SO PEOPLE HAD TO REPEAT HISTORY AGAIN WITH THIS FACIST…….133 DAYS AND 3 ELECTIONS AND THIS TIME WE SEND YOU LAMESTREAM MEDIA OFF THE CLIFF WITH THE DEMOCRAT PARTY………CHANGE AMERICA CAN BELIEVE IN……………
bobcn1

‘Still, it remains remarkable to me that a woman who in the 1990s was routinely accused of being a radical leftist has emerged…’

Did you find it remarkable that Gore, who (during the 2000 campaign) was accused of being a ‘serial exaggerator’ and accused of saying that he had ‘invented the internet’, actually turned out to be the person with the foresight to secure the necessary funding for the creation of the internet? Did you find it remarkable that Gore never said he ‘invented the internet’.

Did you find it remarkable that Kerry, who (during the 2004 campaign) was accused of falsifying his combat record, actually turned out to have fought valiantly and honorably for his country?

It remains remarkable to you that (during the 1992 campaign and afterward) Hillary was accused of being a ‘radical leftist’ but she has turned out not to be.

Michael,
Do you notice a pattern here?
stuartzechman

Joe Klein is not the author of this post, Michael Crowley is.
stuartzechman

I believe Hillary Clinton was accused of being Vince Foster’s murderess, as well.
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Nope, no pattern here, nothing to see, move along.
robbert5

I tuned out right after the first caps I.
http://elvisberg.wordpress.com Elvis Elvisberg

It remains remarkable to me that a man who was accused of being a child molester is more interested in the political effectiveness than the the factual accuracy of reckless accusations.
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http://gawker.com/221815/michael-crichton-is-kind-of-a-dick
Alex Vallas

It sounds to me like the General and some of his top brass are sampling the easily accessable drugs in Afghanistan. There is NO excuse for putting down the President — who is the Commander in Chief – and the Vice President. If he didn’t like the way he was treated by the President he should have discussed his concerns with the President privately or resign. I seriously doubt that the President was not listening. Maybe the General couldn’t speak in non-military language and became boring. Even General McArthur was forced to resign by President Truman, and the General was considered one of the best in history. The military love wars – that is how they get a chest full of ribbons and medals.
Frankly, I don’t see how the General is doing such a great job in Afghanistan.
http://www.124monkeys.com Sean DeCoursey forgot his password

I remember Bill and Hillary being accused of being way too comfortable with corporate interests and money, and putting those interests and money ahead of the people. Pretty sure that one panned out.
bobcn1

Perhaps we shouldn’t be too hard on Michael. After all, how could he possibly know that the accusation was false? If he got his information from a publication that writes that there was an accusation, but doesn’t include the fact that the accusation was false, how could he possibly know?
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A publication with the journalistic integrity to state ‘in the 1990s she was routinely falsely accused of …’ would have to be found. A publication would have to be found that had the integrity to not to publish allegations without including the context and followup — otherwise it leaves the target of the false allegation smeared yet again.
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Poor Michael! Where can he find a news publication with that kind of integrity?
11charlie

Today, we’re joined by Joshua from “WarGames”.
apr2563

Michael is one of those journalists that use Politico as a source. If you get time, read this (H/T Daily Dish) article by Politico. andrew@theatlantic.com
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In it the famed source, Politico, explains that letting Rolling Stones’ reporter, Hastings, have access was an error. After all, a beat reporter “would not risk burning bridges by publishing many of McChrystal’s remarks”.
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Maybe that explains why it took so long to uncover the Pat Tillman tragedy.
apr2563

Hey, Catherine! Remember what Rumsfeld said, you go to war with what you have. There are unknown unknowns. So if you didn’f have properly armored vehicles in Iraq, oh well. That’s the breaks.
stuartzechman

Unlike accusations related to the Rose law firm files, or the Whitewater real estate deals, or the death of Vince Foster, the accusations you mention were made by the left, and so were neither investigated nor reported.